A. W. Fulton

“ An important point is to feed a proper proportion of flesh-forming ration rather than one which will serve to develop fat at the expense of lean. The proper proportion of these will best subserve the interest of the farmer, whether he is finishing off swine for family use or for supplying the market with home cured bacon. A diet composed largely of protein (albuminoids) results in an increased proportion of lean meat in the carcass. On the other hand, a ration made up chiefly of feeds which are high in starchy elements, known as carbohydrates, yields very largely in fat (lard) . ”

“ Like pure lard, sausage is too often a scarce article in the market. Most city butchers mix a good deal of beef with the pork, before it is ground, and so have a sausage composed of two sorts of meat, which does not possess that agreeable, sweet, savory taste peculiar [Pg 27] to nice fresh pork. The bits of lean, cut off when trimming the pieces of neat meat, the tenderloins, and slices of lean from the shoulders and hams, together with some fat, are first washed nicely, cleared of bone and scraps of skin, then put into the chopper, and ground fine. ”

“ Sausage has formed a highly prized article of food for a good many hundred years. Formed primarily as now, by chopping the raw meat very fine, and adding salt and other flavoring materials, and often meal or bread crumbs, the favorite varieties of to-day might not be considered any improvement over the recipes of the ancient Romans were they to pass judgment on the same. History tells us that these early Italian sausages were made of fresh pork and bacon, chopped fine, with the addition of nuts, and flavored with cumin seed, pepper, bay leaves and various pot herbs. ”

“ CUTLETS FROM COLD ROAST PORK.
Melt an ounce of butter in a saucepan, lay in the cutlets and an onion chopped fine, and fry a light brown; then add a dessertspoon of flour, half a pint of gravy, pepper and salt to taste, and a teaspoon each of vinegar and made mustard. Simmer gently a few minutes and serve.
PORK CHOPS.
The white meat along the backbone (between the ribs and ham) is not always sufficiently appreciated, and is often peeled from the fat, cut from the bones and put into sausage, which should never be done, as it is the choicest piece in the hog to fry. ”

“ During the marvelous growth of the packing industry the past generation, methods of slaughtering and handling pork have undergone an entire revolution. In the days of our fathers, annual hog-killing time was as much an event in the family as the harvesting of grain. With the coming of good vigorous frosts and cold weather, reached in the Northern states usually in November, every farmer would kill one, two or more hogs for home consumption, and frequently a considerable number for distribution through regular market channels. ”

“ If the weather is very cold, however, and there is danger that the meat will freeze hard before morning, haste is made to cut it up the same day, or else it is put into a basement or other warm room, or a large fire made near it to prevent it from freezing. Meat that is frozen will not take salt, or keep from spoiling if salted. Salting is one of the most important of the several processes in the art of curing good bacon, and the pork should be in just the right condition for taking or absorbing the salt. ”

“ TO ROAST WHOLE.
A pig ought not to be under four nor over six weeks old, and ought to be plump and fat. In the city, [Pg 114] the butcher will sell you a shoat already prepared, but in the country, we must prepare our own pig for roasting. As soon as the pig is killed, throw it into a tub of cold water to make it tender; as soon as it is perfectly, cold, take it by the hind leg and plunge into scalding water, and shake it about until the hair can all be removed, by the handful at a time. When the hair has all been removed, rub from the tail up to the end of the nose with a coarse cloth. ”

“ Our American meats are as a rule heavy, rich in fat and in marked contrast with the light, mild, sweet flavored pork well streaked with lean, found so generally in the English market and cured primarily in Ireland and Denmark. What is wanted is a long, lean, smooth, bacon hog something after the Irish hog. Here is a hint for our American farmers.
England can justly boast of her hams and bacon, but for sweet, tender, lean pork the Normandy hogs probably have no superior in the world. They are fed largely on meat-producing food, as milk, peas, barley, rye and wheat bran. ”

“ Care is taken not to allow the fire to get too large and hot, so as to endanger the meat hung nearest to it. Should the fire grow too strong, as it sometimes will, a little water is thrown on, a bucketful of which is kept always on hand. The fire requires constant care and nursing to keep up a good smoke and no blaze. Oak and hickory chips or wood impart the best color to meat. Some woods, as pine, ailanthus, mulberry and persimmon, are very objectionable, imparting a disagreeable flavor to the bacon. Corn cobs make a good smoke for meat, but they must be wet before laying them on the fire. ”

“ Were it not for the foreign demand for our pork and pork product there would be much less profit in fattening hogs for market than there is, irrespective of the price of corn and other feeds. England is our best customer, taking by far the larger part of our entire exports of all lard, cured meats and other hog product, but there is an encouraging trade with other foreign countries. The authorities at Washington are making every effort to enlarge this foreign outlet. Certain European countries, notably France and Germany, place irksome embargoes on American pork product. ”

“ The reason why country bacon is sometimes so badly infested with the skipper is that the house and floor afford or become an excellent incubator, as it were, for the Dermestes, and the bacon bugs become so numerous that all the meat gets infested with them. In case the floor of the smokehouse is soft and yielding, it becomes necessary each winter, before the meat is packed to salt, to remove about two inches of the soil and put in fresh earth or clay in its place. ”

“ Ostensibly, these foreign governments claim the quality and healthfulness of some of the American pork are in question, but in reality back of all this is the demand from the German and French farmers that the competition afforded by American pork must be kept down. It is believed that eventually all such restrictions will be swept away, through international agreement, and that thus our markets may be further extended, greatly benefiting the American farmer. Our exports of hog product, including pork, bacon, hams and lard, represent a value annually of about $100,000,000. ”

“ Corn, which is rich in starch, is a great fat producer and should not be fed too freely in finishing off hogs for the best class of bacon. In addition to the important [Pg 6] muscle-producing feeds noted above, there are others rich in protein, such as bran, skim milk, buttermilk, etc. While corn is naturally the standby of all swine growers, the rations for bacon purposes should include these muscle-producing feeds in order to bring the best results. If lean, juicy meat is desired, these muscle forming foods should be continued to the close. ”

“ When no raw taste is left, stir in the chopped meat and season to taste with salt, pepper and herb, sage or sweet marjoram, or anything preferred. When the meat is thoroughly mixed all through the mush, and seasoning is satisfactory, dip out into pans of convenient size, to cool. Better lift off fire and stir carefully lest it scorch. When cold, serve in slices like cheese, or fry like mush (crisp both sides) for breakfast, serving it with nice tomato catsup. It tastes very much like fried oysters. Some prefer half buckwheat meal and half corn. ”

“ On the flesh side it is only necessary to sprinkle the salt over all the surface. Care must be taken to get some salt into every depression and into the hock end of all joints. An experienced meat salter goes over the pieces with great expedition. Taking a handful of the salt, he applies it dextrously by a gliding motion of the hand to all the surface, and does not forget the hock end of the bones where the feet have been cut off. Only dry salt is used in this method of curing. The meat is never put into brine or “pickle,” nor is any water added to the salt to render it more moist. ”

“ For best quality of bacon, the proper meat is of first importance. Withes or strings of basket wood, bear’s grass, or coarse, stout twine, one in the hock end of each ham and shoulder, and two in the thick side of each middling, are fastened in the meat by which to suspend it for smoking. Before it is hung up the entire flesh surface of the hams and shoulders, and sometimes the middlings also, is sprinkled thickly with fine black pepper, using a large tin pepper box to apply it. ”

“ The various chapters treat successively of the following, among other branches of the art of pork [Pg vi] making: Possibilities of profit in home curing and marketing pork; finishing off hogs for bacon; class of rations best adapted, flesh and fat forming foods; best methods of slaughtering hogs, with necessary adjuncts for this preliminary work; scalding and scraping; the construction of vats; dressing the carcass; cooling and cutting up the meat; best disposition of the offal; the making of sausage and scrapple; success in producing a fine quality of lard and the proper care of it. ”

“ When it is desired to pickle pork by pouring brine over the filled barrel, the following method is a favorite: Pack closely in the barrel, first rubbing the salt well into the exposed ends of bones, and sprinkle well between each layer, using no brine until forty-eight [Pg 42] hours after, and then let the brine be strong enough to bear an egg. After six weeks take out the hams and bacon and hang in the smokehouse. When warm weather brings danger of flies, smoke a week with hickory chips; avoid heating the air much. If one has a dark, close smokehouse, the meat can hang in it all summer ”

“ The meat house is of course one with an earth, brick, or cement floor, where the fire for the smoke is made in a depression in the center of the room, so as to be as far as possible from the walls. A few live coals are laid down, and a small fire is made of some dry stuff. As it gets well to burning, the [Pg 52] fire is smothered with green hickory or oak wood, and a basket of green chips from the oak or hickory woodpile is kept on hand and used as required to keep the fire smothered so as to produce a great smoke and but little blaze. If the chips are too dry they are kept wet with water. ”

“ Too much saltiness spoils the hams for first-class bacon. In fact, it spoils any meat to have it too salt, but it requires less to spoil the hams, because, as [Pg 50] a rule, they are mostly lean meat. The jowls, heads and livers, on account of the quantity of blood about them, are put in a separate pile, after being salted. The chines and spareribs are but slightly salted and laid on top of the bulk of neat meat. The drippings of brine and blood from the meat are collected in buckets and sent to the compost heaps. If there are rats, they must be trapped or kept out in some way. ”

“ A PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT POINT
in making lard is to take plenty of time. The cooking must not be hurried in the least. It requires time to thoroughly dry out all the water, and the keeping quality of the lard depends largely upon this. A slow fire of coals only should be placed under the kettle, and great care exercised that no spark snaps into it, to set fire to the hot oil. ”

“ Westphalia is a province of Germany in which there is a large industry in breeding swine for the express purpose of making the most tender meat with the least proportion of fat. Another reason for the peculiar and excellent qualities which have made Westphalian hams so famous, is the manner of feeding and growing for the hams, and finally the preserving, curing, and last of all, smoking the hams. ”

“ The very best bacon cannot be made of meat that has not been thoroughly freed from blood, and this is a fact that should be well remembered. Expert butchers, who know how to seize and hold the hog and insert the knife at the proper place, are quickly through with the job, and often before the knife can be withdrawn from the incision, the blood will spurt out in a stream and insensibility and death will speedily ensue. ”